There's Something About Mary
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly
Produced by	Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly
Written by	Ed Decter John J. Strauss Peter Farrelly Bobby Farrelly
Starring	Cameron Diaz Matt Dillon Ben Stiller Chris Elliott Lee Evans
Music by	Jonathan Richman
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Editing by	Christopher Greenbury
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 15, 1998
Running time	Theatrical cut 119 min. Extended cut 134 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$23,000,000
Gross revenue	$369,884,651

There's Something About Mary is a 1998 romantic comedy film, directed by the Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter. It stars Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller, it is a combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film.

This sleeper hit was the highest grossing comedy of 1998 in North America as well as the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year. It also catapulted Diaz and Stiller into the limelight. The movie has made $369 million worldwide, including $176 million in the U.S. alone.^[1]

The film was placed 27th in the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (see the 100 Years Series), a list of the 100 funniest movies of the 20th century. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 4th greatest comedy film of all time.

[edit] Plot

Awkward and shy high-schooler Ted (Ben Stiller) lands a prom date with his dream girl Mary (Cameron Diaz), just to have it cut short by a painfully humiliating zipper accident (his penis gets caught in his fly).

Thirteen years later, Ted is still in love - maybe even obsessed - with her. On the advice of his best friend Dom (Chris Elliott), he hires sleazy private detective Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to track her down. Healy finds that she is an orthopedic surgeon living in Miami with her friend Magda, but he falls in love with the irresistible Mary as well. Healy resorts to lying, cheating, stalking and drugging Magda's dog to win Mary but is exposed by Mary's architect friend, the apparently crippled Tucker (comedian Lee Evans). Tucker, however, turns out to be a fraud himself, a pizza boy who is also in love with Mary and drives potential rivals away by slander, including Brett Favre, the famous American football star (playing himself), whom she almost married.

Ted (aided by Dom) drives down to Florida and seems to have won Mary's love, until an anonymous letter exposes his being less than honest about his link to Healy. While Ted confronts Healy and Tucker, Mary is confronted by Dom, who turns out to be her former boyfriend Woogie, who had "got weird on her" in college, setting up the original prom scenario. Having found out that Tucker also lied about Mary's former love interest, football player Brett Favre, Ted decides that Mary should be with Brett, as Brett was the only one who did not resort to deceit to win Mary. After reuniting Brett and Mary, Ted leaves tearfully but Mary however chases after him, preferring him over Brett. The film concludes with the two engaging in a kiss while a guitarist (Jonathan Richman) who narrates/sings along all the story is accidentally shot by Magda's boyfriend who was trying to kill Ted so he could win over Mary.

[edit] Cast

• Cameron Diaz as Mary Jensen/Matthews, an orthopedic surgeon with whom Ted has been in love since high school.
• Ben Stiller as Ted Stroehmann, an awkward and shy young man who loves - and possibly is obsessed with - Mary.
• Matt Dillon as Pat Healy, a sleazy private detective whom Ted hires to track Mary down, only to fall in love with her himself.
• Chris Elliott as Dom "Woogie" Woganowski, Ted's best friend, who has a fetish for Mary's shoes.
• Lee Evans as Tucker / Norman Phipps, a Pompano pizza delivery boy who falls in love with Mary and pretends to be a British architect in order to woo her.
• Lin Shaye as Magda
• Jeffrey Tambor as Sully
• Markie Post as Sheila Jensen, Mary's mother.
• Keith David as Charlie Jensen, Mary's stepfather.
• W. Earl Brown as Warren Jensen, Mary's mentally disabled brother.
• Sarah Silverman as Brenda, Mary's crude best friend.
• Khandi Alexander as Joanie
• Willie Garson as Dr. Zit Face / High School Pal Bob
• Harland Williams (uncredited) as Hitchhiker
• Brett Favre as Himself, Mary's former love interest.

[edit] Honors

American Film Institute recognition

• 2000: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs #27

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• There's Something About Mary at the Internet Movie Database
• There's Something About Mary at Allmovie
• There's Something About Mary at Box Office Mojo
• There's Something About Mary at the TCM Movie Database
• There's Something About Mary at Rotten Tomatoes